Improving Cross-Cultural Communication in Health Professions Education

Abstract

<h4>ABSTRACT</h4> <P>In the District of Columbia, health education programs are required for all students, yet inner-city elementary public charter schools do not have enough funding to hire nursing personnel in their schools to provide such programs to their students. Therefore, some public charter school administrators partner with community agencies to bring additional cost-free resources to their schools. However, collaborative and partnership activities in DC can be fraught with racial strife. This article describes the partnership between the Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies, the School of Medicine, and select DC elementary schools and presents a specific example of one partnership between the University and an elementary public charter school. The article describes a communication breakdown between the predominately Caucasian nursing and medical students and the predominately African American faculty, staff, and students of the public charter school, with suggestions about how to avoid and overcome such conflicts in the future.</P> <h4>AUTHORS</h4> <P>Received: October 10, 2005</P> <P>Accepted: May 11, 2006</P> <P>Dr. Murphy is Disabilities Counselor, Northern Virginia Community College, Dr. Censullo is Assistant Professor, Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies, Dr. Cameron is Assistant Professor and Director, Service Learning Program, Department of Family Medicine, Georgetown University Medical Center, and Dr. Baigis is Professor, Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies, Washington, DC.</P> <P>Address correspondence to Judith A. Baigis, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor, Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies, 3700 Reservoir Road, NW, Washington, DC 20057-1107; e-mail: <a href="mailto:baigisj@georgetown.edu">baigisj@georgetown.edu</a>.</P>

Social Justice Leadership as Praxis

“…In addition, to get to know the students they work with directly in their school settings, they should become familiar with the concept of “student voice” (Lalas & Valle, 2007; Mitra, 2004, 2009) and how to develop processes in schools that allow for student voice to be expressed and heard. To develop leadership students’ knowledge of relationship theories and models, the curriculum should include topics such as the “ethic of care” (Noddings, 1984, 2005; Starratt, 1994), the principles of dialogue and cross-cultural communication (Burbules, 1993; Isaacs, 1999; Lupi & Tong, 2001; Ryan, 2002, 2007; Shields, 2003, 2004b; Shields & Edwards, 2005; Sidorkin, 1999; S. T. Murphy, Censullo, Cameron, & Baigis, 2007), and the principles of “deep,” “good,” and “transformative” listening (Beatty, 1999; Glover, 2007; Kurth-Schai & Green, 2000).…”

Student nurses’ experiences of communication in cross-cultural care encounters

“…It is not clear whether Swedish student nurses feel similarly ill‐prepared. In North America, the communication skills required for cross‐cultural care encounters have been introduced into some nursing curricula with good effect (24, 25). But Swedish nursing programmes do not necessarily enable nurses to develop knowledge and skills for cross‐cultural care encounters (26).…”

Understanding The Competencies As Global Citizen

“…Besides, the orientation of global aspects based on moral responsibility can encourage someone to be involved in crosscultural collaboration. Murphy et al (2007) concluded that the quality of cross-cultural communication was able to overcome conflicts between individuals. Studies conducted at three educational institutions in America that have employees from various racial backgrounds prove that cross-cultural communication influences cooperative behaviour among employees.…”